Triple-GPU Scaling: AMD CrossFire Vs. Nvidia SLI

Triple-GPU systems are still a fair rarity in the consumer space, but frequently discussed and coveted by hard-core gamers all over.  In a recent benchmark by Toms Hardware, they put NVidia’s Triple-SLI against AMD’s Crossfire 3-way to see which one performs better.  Much to my own surprise,  the AMD solution not only yields slightly better performance, but much better efficiently with a vastly lower power consumption and heat output.

CrossFire came out with a huge overall scaling lead over SLI, and removing the one title that didn’t reflect that average would have made the lead even bigger. Superior scaling allowed two mid-priced Radeon HD 6950s to approximate the performance of two higher-cost GeForce GTX 570s, while three HD 6950s took the performance win over three GTX 570s.

If these figures cross over into the Multi-GPU/single-PCB space like the basis of AMD and NVidia’s newest announcements, AMD could have a big win on it’s hands in CrossFire Scaling.

Triple-GPU Scaling: AMD CrossFire Vs. Nvidia SLI : Is Multi-GPU The Game Changer?.

This story written by Randall Hand

Randall Hand is a visualization scientist working for a federal research lab, aiding researchers to discover the insights buried within their terabyte datasets generated on some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. He also runs VizWorld.com .